Today, the Center for College Affordability and Productivity released a study that examines students' opinions about the funding of Intercollegiate Athletics - and for President Roderick McDavis, the results were far from positive.
The center used the results of a survey sent to 19,843 OU students as a case study. Of those students, 1,175 responded. According to the study, most of those students were ignorant of or hostile to athletic fees. That is not surprising.
The athletic department will assuredly respond to the study's results with the same tired arguments, saying that Athletics is good for exposure, that it will bring money and students to Ohio University.
But 83.4 percent of respondents said that to some degree, Athletics was unimportant in their decision to attend OU. Furthermore, 70.7 percent of respondents chose to rank Athletics in the bottom half of funding priority, with 19.8 percent ranking it as the General Fee unit that should receive the least funding.
More than half of the respondents did not know a portion of the General Fee is used to subsidize Athletics. On students' quarterly bills, OU does not itemize to reflect the eight units' allotment; instead, it lists the General Fee as a lump sum of $531 per quarter.
The lack of transparency is astounding. How each student's General Fee is divided should be broken down clearly on students' bills or easily accessible, not require tracking down on some Web page off the beaten website path.
Students who took the survey agree, with 76.8 percent for itemization of the allotment - 51.6 percent strongly supported and 25.2 percent supported.
But even more pressing than transparency is the amount that students unknowingly give to Athletics. Of the quarterly General Fee lump sum, $255 goes to Athletics - totaling $765 per year. Many of the survey respondents underestimated that amount, averaging about $187 per quarter.
When respondents were asked how much they are willing to pay per year to support Intercollegiate Athletics, the results were overwhelmingly negative. According to the study, 63 percent of respondents desire that the amount allocated be reduced. They are absolutely right.
It is difficult to imagine students' caring any less about Athletics at this institution after the results of the survey. If students are not coming to OU for sporting events, then McDavis needs to re-evaluate Athletics' importance in the comprehensive student experience.
4 Opinion
Study shows OU students care little about Athletics
